British Game Show Reviews: "The Bank Job" Review

Premise- Four contestants compete in a series of three trivia rounds in an attempt to fill their briefcase with as much money as possible and leave the vault before time runs out. In the first round, the contestants have 90 seconds to answer as many questions as possible. An incorrect answer locks the contestant out for a question and keeps the clock moving, while a correct answer stops the clock and gives the contestant a chance to pick one of the 25 safe deposit boxes which may or may not contain cash. After answering a question correctly and choosing a safe deposit box, the contestant may choose to leave the vault with their money or keep playing the round. The contestant with the least amount of money in their case is eliminated from the game and leaves with nothing. In the second round, the remaining three contestants will have 90 seconds to fill two briefcases with only one stack of cash in each case. The contestant with the least amount of cash in both cases or the contestant who fails to fill both of their cases before time runs out will be eliminated. In the third round, the remaining two contestants will have 45 seconds each to fill their cases with as much money as possible before time runs out. As a special twist in this round, “Steal” boxes have been added into the mix of the 25 boxes. If a contestant chooses a “Steal” box, their opponent must surrender the largest bundle of cash that is in their case to the contestant. The contestant with the most cash in their case at the end of the round will win the game and the money they have accumulated from the three rounds.

And now, for the review…

The U.K. has been in a rut with producing new and successful primetime game shows that will last for more than a season. With the arrival of the new live primetime game show The Bank Job, I believe that the U.K. has regained their composure of producing good and new primetime game shows. Even though The Bank Job is like Deal or No Deal mixed with trivia and this show has done a good job of not blatantly ripping off Deal or No Deal. On a quick side note, it’s very interesting to see how many game shows nowadays are using Deal or No Deal’s random number-picking, cash revealing gameplay as a part of their show, such as Secret Fortune and You Deserve It.This show has good gameplay filled with risk, knowledge, strategy, luck, and twists in every round to avoid stagnation in the show’s format. With this being said, there are a few things about the show that I don’t like.

The overall flow of the show is slow. Certain elements can be removed from the show to speed it up, like the contestants’ gameplay style bios and the contestants walking out of the vault and sitting in the danger zone/waiting lounge. Instead of doing that, the contestants should be able to simply freeze, close their case, and just simply watch the other contestants play while still in the vault. The Bank Job could be easily billed as a fast-paced trivia game show with these changes, and needs to drop the “Hollywood heist” bit. The show is also filled with multiple errors and restarts when it’s filmed live and will probably serve better as a pre-recorded series, airing on a weekly basis. The show’s host, George Lamb, is average at best and has tendencies to slow the show’s pace down by reinstating certain rules over and over again unnecessarily.

Overall, The Bank Job is a good competitive, high stakes game show that deserves a second week to run. This show needs to fix the reoccurring problems that often happen on the show, like the clock stopping and starting at the wrong times, and the gameplay needs to be faster for a show like this.

Check out all the episodes from the first week of The Bank Job on YouTube!

**All screenshots have been taken from the actual episodes of The Bank Job. No ownership is implied.**